Libya's oil exports plunge as problems escalate

FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2011, file photo, a Libyan man works at a refinery inside the Brega oil complex in Brega, eastern Libya. Libyan officials said Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013, oil exports have plunged to less than 10 percent of their pre-war levels. An official at Libya's National Oil Corporation said exports were at 150,000 barrels per day on Saturday. He spoke anonymously in line with regulations. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
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FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2011, file photo, a Libyan man works at a refinery inside the Brega oil complex in Brega, eastern Libya. Libyan officials said Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013, oil exports have plunged to less than 10 percent of their pre-war levels. An official at Libya's National Oil Corporation said exports were at 150,000 barrels per day on Saturday. He spoke anonymously in line with regulations. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
/ AP

The volatile atmosphere threatens to further destabilize Libya and has already contributed to jitters among international oil traders and refiners.

The protests by Petroleum Facilities Guard personnel have cost Libya around $140 million a day, or what is more than $5 billion in total losses, according to the National Oil Corp.'s website.

Libya's central bank has warned that if the situation remains as it is through the end of the year, the country could lose its contracts with foreign companies. Bank officials said the national budget and the government's ability to pay civil servants would also be severely impacted.

Naji Mokhtar, head of the energy committee in Libya's elected parliament, said the strikes at ports are also choking imports of diesel and fuel oil for electricity plants, leading to rolling shortages.

"Now we don't have a choice other than using force to disperse these sit-ins," he told reporters this week.

Water shortages also have hit Tripoli in recent days, with hospitals and homes relying on storage from wells and large tanks. The shortages began around three days ago when the Megraha tribe in Sabha cut the power on pumps that keep water flowing from the south to the northwest, where the capital is located.

The cuts are linked to the abduction of the daughter of the former intelligence chief under Gadhafi, Abduallah el-Senoussi, who hails from the Megraha tribe. El-Senoussi's daughter, Anoud, was kidnapped on Monday after she left al-Rayoumi prison in Tripoli where she was visiting her father. He is detained over his role in alleged crimes committed during the civil war.

Highlighting the government's inability to control even its own paid forces, officials said that a militia aligned with the Supreme Security Committee, which works with police and is aligned with the Interior Ministry, had taken Anoud.

A video released after her abduction shows her claiming to be under the group's protection.

"They are protecting me out of fear from other groups . and have treated me like a sister," she says.